Re: How I like my steak:

[talexb]

I can remember a great sign over a BBQ place in San Francisco from when I visited in 1982 -- "We'll cook you a steak rare, medium rare (my choice), medium, or medium well, but we absolutely refuse to cook you a steak well-done."

I like that.

And, of course, with a lovely glass of rich red wine. :)

[Errto]

We have a burger place here that will serve medium rare by default. They also do well done if you tell them to, but it's only because one year the health department came by and said they couldn't refuse to "thoroughly" cook the meat. They call it a hockey puck and if the old guy's in a bad mood, he'll brandish his knife at you for ordering it.

They also supposedly invented the hamburger, or at least the American incarnation of it. Oh, and they don't carry ketchup.

[swampyankee]

Of course that's were the hamburger was invented. That it may have been independently invented in dozens of other places is irrelevant 8-)

[talexb]

I try to keep my burger on the edge of the grill when I cook for my wife and two step-sons so I get medium rare, but that's not possible with the factory-made burgers -- they're not nearly as tasty, but they are way less work.

My latest batch of hand-made burgers contained diced onion and garlic, along with oregano, paprika, chili powder, pepper and salt. They fell apart a little on the grill (perhaps an egg as binder next time) but tasted great.

[Voronich]

Such as? (always interested to hear people's wine choices.)

[talexb]

Well, this is way off-topic, but I was introduced to the Baco Noir grape about ten years ago by a girlfriend I had at the time, and loved the rich flavour. Henry of Pelham in the Niagara region does amazing things with this grape. So therefore a Pinot Noir is also welcome.

My wife and I are on our second double batch of wine from a store called Fermentations on Danforth -- I think we paid $300 and got 60 bottles of red. It's not vintage, and you can't drink it right away, but after 2-3 months it is quite definitely drinkable and very pleasant. We have a Pinot Grigio (I think) and a Merlot (blended with another grape, I forget).

It's sort of like open source wine. ;)